


About Time

by cordeliadelayne



Series: Man-Made [8]
Category: Primeval
Genre: Established Relationship, First Time, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, all is right with the world, talking about feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-11
Updated: 2016-05-11
Packaged: 2018-06-07 16:18:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6812908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cordeliadelayne/pseuds/cordeliadelayne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stephen and Nick finally get it together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	About Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kristen_mara](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=kristen_mara).



> Written as a Christmas present for the always lovely kristen_mara and originally posted to Livejournal in 2012.

Stephen and Cutter didn't have sex the night that Stephen told his friends everything that had happened to him in the past. Somehow it felt wrong, having exposed so much of his soul; he felt too vulnerable and not sure that he could perform like that. Cutter had, thankfully, said he'd understood, even though it was perfectly clear that he didn't. But Stephen would forgive him the lie if it meant that they just lay together in bed, Stephen in just his boxer's, Cutter in a warm looking pyjamas set.

“They look like something your granny bought you,” Stephen had said, with a smile.

“Aye, she did. Christmas, 2008”.

Stephen had laughed outright then. “I'm surprised they still fit.”

“Oh, are you now?” Cutter had said, and proceeded to pin Stephen to the bed and kiss him breathless.

It wasn't bad, as first kisses go. Not the romantic kind that Stephen had somehow imagined but the real, worn in kind, given because you know the other person will always respond to your touch, will always love you no matter what.

Stephen had the best sleep of his life that night.

* * * * *

Cutter made breakfast. Or tried to at least. The eggs were a little too runny. The toast a little too crisp. The tea a little too dark.

But Stephen ate up every last crumb.

It wasn't the food that made the meal, but the message behind it. This was it, now. The two of them. Just like it should have been. Would have been sooner if they'd hadn't both been too stubborn, been too afraid. Afraid of where their hearts were leading them.

“I'm sorry,” Cutter said. He kissed the side of Stephen's head. “I had no idea about what you'd gone through.”

“Only because I didn't tell you. I didn't tell anyone. I suppose...” Stephen paused and looked up at Cutter, smiling at what he saw there. “I suppose I've never really let anyone in. I was hurt once, before Helen, and I suppose I've never really allowed myself to be hurt like that again. I think I missed out on a lot, protecting myself. I might have lead a totally different life.”

“But the life you have lead, brought you to me. Can't be that bad then, can it?”

“No,” Stephen said, eyes shining. “I suppose it can't be.”

“What are your plans for today?” Cutter asked, tidying up the breakfast things and allowing Stephen to regain some of his composure.

“Well, we have work, don't we?”

“No,” Cutter replied, to Stephen's surprise. “I already called Jenny who suggested we take the rest of the week off.”

“How's Lester feel about that?”

Cutter shrugged. “Didn't ask. Don't care.”

Stephen smiled. “Right, okay then. So what are our plans, then?”

Cutter started rooting around in a drawer and Stephen was starting to think that he hadn’t heard the question, until he pulled out a flyer. “This came through the door the other day. A special exhibition at Kew Gardens. What do you say?”

Stephen had always loved Kew, a place where nature really felt alive.

“Love to.”

* * * * *

Although busy, the crowds were well-managed and as Stephen and Cutter walked around the gardens together, no one batted an eye at the sight of them occasionally holding hands and kissing. Stephen rather felt like all his Christmases had come at once.

“Your face will set that way, if you're not careful,” Cutter said.

Stephen blinked himself out of his reverie – a day dream about a chocolate-covered Cutter. “Sorry, what?”

“That grin of yours could light up Covent Garden. What were you daydreaming about?”

Stephen leaned forward and told him, delighting in the way Cutter turned a very fetching shade of red.

* * * * *

They sat and ate lunch outside – sandwiches which Cutter insisted on buying, followed by muffins and cans of coke. Stephen felt like he was at school, the giddy feeling of first love, though it was hardly that. The depth of his love for Cutter was a comforting thing, a knowledge he'd carried with him through all his troubles, though he hadn't realised it.

He tried to explain it to Cutter, but felt like he hadn't done a very good job when Cutter asked if he was being compared to a comfort blanket.

“I – no, that's not...” Stephen trailed off as he realised Cutter was teasing him. “I walked right into that, didn't I?”

Cutter kissed him them, taking him pleasantly by surprise. Cutter's hand was on the back of his neck, drawing him close and he didn’t care about who could see them, right now they were the only people in the entire world.

“Let's go home,” Cutter breathed into Stephen's mouth.

“Home it is,” Stephen replied.

* * * * *

They made love that night, and then again in the morning. Cutter joked that Stephen was a good tonic for his libido and Stephen had merely whispered something about purchasing the Kama Sutra the next day.

It was exactly as perfect as Stephen had hoped, and exactly as normal. Elbows and knees knocked, teeth grazed sensitive areas a little too closely, nails scratched, heads hit headboards a little too forcefully...but neither of them would have changed it for the world.

“What will the others say?” Stephen asked as they got ready to go back to work and face the ARC.

“About time?” Cutter suggested. He turned serious when he saw Stephen’s expression. “Honestly, Stephen, no one is going to say anything, other than that we should have admitted our feelings for each other a long time ago.”

Stephen nodded. “You're right, of course you're right.” He straightened his jacket and looked at himself in the mirror. “All the things that have happened, all the things I’ve been through, and I don't look like I have a scratch on me. But they are all there, marking me on the inside.”

“Oh, Stephen,” Cutter said, puling the younger man into a tight embrace. “I will help you heal every last one of them. You know that.”

Stephen nodded and let the embrace turn into kissing and a little groping before pointing out that they were going to be late for work. Because he did know, he had always known, that Cutter was it for him. Forever and always. And everything that had happened to him – all the good and especially all the bad _had_ lead him right where he was now.

And he certainly wouldn't have it any other way.


End file.
